Bloomberg Governor Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders pledged to raise the legal age to purchase an AR-15 assault rifle in New York to 21 years old from 18, and pass a package of measures to tighten gun laws before the end of the state’s legislative session this week. Citing the mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, local ...

  Bloomberg South African President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed 14 people to a Black economic-empowerment council that will advise the government on intensified transformation of the economy. The Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Advisory Council’s members will include Black Business Council Chief Executive Officer Kganki Matabane and Black businesswoman Gloria Serobe, the presidency said in a statement. The body is being established ...

Bloomberg South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol’s conservative party is on path for a decisive victory in elections for leaders of major cities and provinces, a joint exit poll showed, in a show of support for his policies coming just three weeks after he took office. Yoon’s People Power Party is expected to take at least 10 of the 17 ...

Bloomberg Boris Johnson said it would not be “responsible” to resign over the so-called partygate scandal, even as a growing number of Conservative MPs call for a change of leader. “I just cannot see actually it would be responsible right now, given everything that’s going on,” the British premier said in a Mumsnet interview broadcast, referring to economic pressures and ...

Bloomberg Malaysian PM Ismail Sabri Yaakob said he would not delay the dissolution of parliament, amid continued pressure from his party to hold a general election as soon as possible. “To face the 15th general election, Barisan Nasional must be prepared,” Ismail said, referring to the ruling coalition. “I say that once we are prepared, I won’t delay for even ...

Bloomberg German inflation hit another all-time high, adding urgency to the European Central Bank’s exit from crisis-era stimulus after numbers from Spain also topped economists’ estimates. Driven by soaring energy and food costs, data showed consumer prices in the continent’s biggest economy jumped as much as 8.7% from a year ago in May. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg predicted an 8.1% ...

  Bloomberg The US merchandise-trade deficit shrank in April by the most since 2009 as imports fell amid lockdowns in China while exports increased to a record. The shortfall narrowed by 15.9% to $105.9 billion last month, following a record level in March, Commerce Department data showed. The figures, which aren’t adjusted for inflation, compared with a median estimate for ...

  Bloomberg Sweden’s economy shrank more than initially reported in the first quarter, partly as a result of sluggish levels of exports and upward revisions to statistics in previous years. Gross domestic product contracted 0.8% in the three months through March from the prior quarter, the first decline since the fourth quarter of 2020, Statistics Sweden said. That compares with ...

  Bloomberg Denmark’s unemployment rate fell to the lowest level in almost 14 years in a signal the Nordic nation’s labor market remains resilient to surging inflation and the fallout from the war in Ukraine. The gross unemployment rate dropped to 2.4% in April, the lowest since June 2008, according to Statistics Denmark. The latest drop means only 70,000 people ...

  Bloomberg Stocks in Europe and the US equity futures struggled for direction amid a debate over the scale of central bank monetary policy tightening needed to fight the inflation. Europe’s Stoxx 600 Index surrendered early gains as investors assessed cheaper valuations against the record jump in euro-zone consumer prices. Among individual moves, bootmaker Dr Martens Plc surged after its ...